Many people utilize image services that provide on-line access to millions of high-quality digital images, graphics, videos, and other image assets that are widely used across various creative industries. For example, designers, illustrators, architects, and editors, as well as novice and other enthusiasts, will likely interact with an on-line image service at some point in creative processes to search for and use an image or images that have some particular correlation to a creative project. However, with conventional image services, a user is not able to upload an image that he or she already has and specify in particular what it is about the uploaded image the user is searching to find in other similar images. Typically, the search results returned by a conventional image service are based on some general features of the uploaded image, but do not focus on any specific notion of similarity.
For example, a user may upload an image of a snowcapped mountain at sunset with a river running through the image. A conventional image service does not provide that the user can specify what is meant by “similarity,” particularly in reference to the uploaded image. For instance, is the user searching for similar images that have snowcapped mountains with a similar looking background? Alternatively, is the user searching for images of sunsets having a similar color gradient, or rather, is the user searching for similar images of mountains and/or rivers, and the sunset is simply incidental? The conventional image services may determine overall image similarity and return images that, in some respect, appear visually similar to an uploaded image. However, this type of visual similarity determination is based on an inherent assumption that there is only one unique notion of similarity for a particular uploaded image, and does not allow a user to designate the aspects of similarity which may be of interest to the user.
Additionally, some conventional image services may provide that a user can filter some general visual aspects when searching for similar images to an uploaded image. For example, a user may be able to designate or toggle whether a search for similar images will include or exclude people in the images, or the user may be able to filter for a particular color gradient. However, as noted above, simply being able to filter on one or two designated aspects for image searching does not provide a user the ability to designate what it is about a particular uploaded image the user is searching to find in other similar images, and does not allow the user to specify what the user considers as similar.